


Patience

by Lizzy_Raven



Series: Determination [2]
Category: Naruto, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, BAMF Neji, Gen, it's not necessary to know undertale, no undertale characters, patience - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-19 00:11:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8181119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizzy_Raven/pseuds/Lizzy_Raven
Summary: When enemies see Hyuga Neji standing still on the battlefield, they think he is an easy kill. They think he is bluffing. They are wrong. When attacks pass through him, they will wonder if he is a ghost. They will not live long enough to find out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I hadn’t actually planned on making this a multi-chapter story, but then FluffySheepLion on fanfiction suggested I continue it with other characters having the other soul traits, and the idea stuck with me.
> 
> I’m taking suggestions for the other soul types, if you’ve got ideas. I’m not going to make any promises, but as I haven’t decided on any of them yet, you’ve got a fair chance if you make a good enough argument.
> 
> Important: Here’s what you need to know about Undertale for this chapter: there is a section of the game where instead of avoiding attacks, the strategy is to not move, and let them pass harmlessly through you. The association with this gameplay is Patience, like the last chapter was Determination.

When Hizashi Hyuga told his son that there was a secret Hyuga ability that he planned on passing down, this was definitely not what Neji was expecting.

Not yet burdened with the death of his father, but old enough to see the hints of injustice lingering like a faint odor around the Hyuga compound. Not yet old enough to quash his dreams of becoming something amazing, but strong enough that he had already started training for it. Neji was at the perfect age to learn, Hizashi said, and it took all of Neji’s Hyuga decorum to not fidget in his seat, waiting for his father, who to the little boy, had no equal on or off the battlefield. Anything at all that his father wanted to teach him would only be the best of all ninja techniques.

But when his father began speaking, Neji’s awe quickly stuttered, flipping to confusion with a crinkle of eyebrows and the slightest frown. This did not escape Hizashi, who met his son’s expression with a wry smile, indulgent and loving.

“I’m sorry, father, what?” Neji was hesitant, not even sure if he was understanding correctly.

Hizashi was too composed to snort at his son’s predicament, but it was a close one. He took pity, and explained further.

“It’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s still chakra, you understand, just in a different, less intuitive, form. However, I am confident in your abilities. Here’s how it will work; like many of our other family techniques, it involves being acutely aware of your chakra and your body. What you will need to do is extend this awareness beyond your body. It won’t counter every attack, of course. It’s unlikely to help with physical attacks. This technique was created for chakra attacks.”

Hizashi’s eyes narrowed slightly at Neji, who nodded quickly to show that he was following along to the lecture.

“But, absorbing others’ chakra? Isn’t that… dangerous?” Neji asked, doubt at the technique raging with complete confidence in his father.

“It is.” Hizashi agreed, matter-of-factly. “But this isn’t absorbing, you’re letting it pass through you. That’s also why complete chakra control is necessary. The safest thing to do is simply filter the chakra out of your body, as soon as you can. Your body will want to reject the foreign chakra anyway, but you still need to be very careful. We’ll begin with very small amounts of non-malicious chakra, and we’ll work slowly. This is not something that needs to be rushed.”

Neji nodded again, this time more slowing and thoughtfully. “But do I have to stay still, and let them hit me?” He asked, still confused.

Hizashi nodded, gravely serious. “Yes. That is incredibly important. If you move, not only will your concentration be ruined, but the chakra will be hitting you differently, moving the attack through your body to get there. If you can dodge completely, that’s a better option, but this works when there are no other options.”

Neji did not ask what sort of situations required no other options.

* * *

It went against everything that Neji had been taught before, every instinct in his body that said staying still was like being a sitting duck.

It still worked.

All little Hyuga children were required to learn basic anatomy as part of their training, Gentle Fist or no Gentle Fist, and Neji liked to think of his father’s technique not in terms of giant constructs of energy, but in tiny charges and strands of chakra, encased in his own chakra, separated efficiently and filtered through his pathways.

If micro biology had ever been a thing taught in Konoha schools, Neji would have liked even better the analogy of cells passing by each other, worlds of empty space between atoms, galaxies between protons and electrons.

Neji would have liked thinking about himself as a collection of vast quantities of empty space, held together by chakra pathways. That’s what he saw when he opened his eyes, strands of energy glowing brightly, everything else fading into the background, unimportant.

Neji was very good at fading into the background.

It was logical. To a branch family member, standing out too much would be dangerous. Main family members, if they so desired, could kill on whims. Even the weakest member of the main family could kill each and every one of the branch family, just because of birth order, because of birthright.

They had the ability. Neji just didn’t want to give them a reason. The seal tattooed on his forehead was a curse, was a warning, was a threat. _Don’t become too powerful_ , it said, _because I can bring you back down_.

So it was in fact very logical to hide, to be proud that he could skirt his uncle’s gaze without notice, could hide in the compound full of the best eyes in Konoha. It was rational. It was also very unhealthy for a little boy to reject the company of others so absolutely. It is not uncommon that a ninja will be required to be silent, unobserved, overlooked. However, it is rarely required in the nin’s own home. But ninjas were not well versed in mental health practices, so it went unnoticed.

And if this disappearing act, this ability to not be noticed, was a part of his father’s technique, then all the better to help Neji escape harm.

And it did- it worked- it allowed Neji to fade into the back of the room when he wanted to. People forgot about his presence, and he let them. He took advantage when he could, becoming just another Hyuga. Dutiful. Poised. Forgettable.

It will not surprise you, what people say when they think no one is listening.

It was his fate as a branch house member. It was his _birthright_.

Being calm and collected was practically bred into the Hyuga bloodstream, but Neji took it to the extreme. He was cold, when his cousins were reserved, cruel when they were aloof. Neji didn’t like his relatives, didn’t _trust_ them, not after what had happened to his father. And he made it incredibly clear.

The branch family was proud of Neji. But they never really liked him.

Some of that changed, when Neji’s revelation at his first Chunin exam happened. Some of it did not. But even as Neji practiced his father’s technique, he was still cautious to reveal it to anyone. Jutsus are not often shared willingly in the best of times, least of all family jutsus. And this- a gift from his father, something the main family _would never have because they killed him those bastards-_

So if this quiet rebellion, this secret technique, this legacy of his father, was a sick simple pleasure that kept Neji’s cold heart awake and burning with contained fury, well-

No one had to know.

* * *

Ironically, they put Neji on a team with the two nin he'll never be able to use his father’s technique on; a taijutsu specialist, and a bukijutsu specialist. He does not appreciate them at first, but he learns to. He does not respect them at first, but they earn it, again and again, a thousand times over.

Their sensei, too, is not someone who would ever allow Neji to sit still on the battlefield. Or anywhere, really. Maito Gai is exhausting to the extreme. He never seems to ever stop moving. To Neji, who had perfected the ability to sit still like his life depended upon it, it was incomprehensible and frankly ridiculous. Surely it was unbecoming of a ninja to be so outgoing.

(If Neji had known how much he had looked like Hiashi in that moment of perceived superiority, chin slightly raised, eyebrows arched, perhaps he would have given up his arrogance much earlier).

Neji tries to convince himself that this is a blessing. He will not have to trust his teammates with his father’s technique. He can hide it, save it, play his hand close to his chest. It is truly better this way, surely.

Neji cannot fully convince even himself, but it doesn’t matter too much in the scheme of things. Ninjas who rely too much on a trump card will eventually find themselves with empty hands.

But that is early in Neji’s ninja career, before he met Naruto, who changed Neji’s life as he had changed so many others’. But more importantly, it was before he had a long talk with his uncle about how Hyuga Hizashi had died.

Afterwards is a different story. He finally brings himself to explain what his father had taught him. He doesn’t go into detail, though, because it is still his to own, his to keep to himself. Hiashi respects this. After all, it was not too long ago when his brother died that he cannot remember having secrets shared only between the two of them.

So much had already been taken from his brother’s son. Hiashi had no right to take this from him too.

When Neji realizes that his uncle doesn’t plan on pushing him to reveal the secret of his father’s technique, the resentment begins to die down. He begins using his ability in fights, dumbfounding allies and enemies alike.

He finally gets around to telling his team. It’s long after they were put together, long after they began working together cohesively as a group, but he does eventually tell them, reluctantly. It isn’t so much that he doesn’t trust them, because he does now. It’s more habit, to keep what’s really important away from others.

But he does tell them.

“I- I don’t understand.” Lee admits freely, and Tenten doesn’t seem to comprehend it any better. Gai-sensei, is no less confused at the idea that his student has been hiding a secret ability, one that he had never even heard of. He hides it better though.

Neji looks at their wrinkled brows, and grants them a kindness.

“Here,” he offers. “Let me explain…”

They don’t begrudge Neji his secret. All three know what it’s like to lose a parent, to guard jealously the remnants.

Lee may not have understood the importance of hiding skills from others, but he knew what it was like to be denied opportunities, based on something uncontrollable. Tenten may not have ever needed to disappear, but she knew what it was like to try and live up to a legacy. Gai may not have belonged to an elite clan, but he knew what it was like to have a father who meant everything, and was still somehow not enough.

They did not resent him for hiding this from them. It was quickly adapted into their battle strategies, though, because tragic backstory or no tragic back story, an advantage is an advantage. It’s long overdue that Neji uses his advantage. It doesn’t help him in sparing with his teammates, though, which gives Lee the tiniest amount of relief. Against enemies, though, it is a huge advantage, especially when it’s unexpected.

Children grow up, and more of the Konoha Eleven end up in the bingo book than not.

Neji is a monster on the battlefield. Lee might be a beast, but Neji is a machine, every minute action calculated, no inch of movement wasted.

Tenten calls him sharpened and precise like a senbon, and it might just be the most flattering comparison that the weapons mistress ever makes.

His enemies call Hyuga Neji a ghost, trying desperately to explain his ability to get hit by attacks and not be touched by them. They say he doesn’t have a physicality. They say he’s made of nothing but chakra pathways, able to strike out with deadly force, but less corporal than the attacks themselves.

They say he’s untouchable, that if you’re close enough to attack you’re close enough to die. They say he’s first on the battlefield, and last to leave. They say he’s as immovable as a statue, until he’s too fast to see. They say he lets you make the first move, because if he moved first, you’d be dead before you got a chance.

They say Hyuga Neji can stand still forever. Waiting.


End file.
